Barry Fitzgerald

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Barry Fitzgerald (March 10, 1888 – January 14, 1961) was an Academy Award winning Irish actor. Born William Joseph Shields in Dublin, Ireland. He worked as a civil servant, and joined the Abbey Theatre. Starring in such plays as Sean O'Casey's Juno and the Paycock, a role he recreated for Alfred Hitchcock in his screen debut in 1930. He is the older brother of Irish actor Arthur Shields. Fitzgerald was an avid golfer, and known to be a "hacker," Fitzgerald could easily lull opponents into small "bets" and once on the putting green would relieve them of their money. His small stature did nothing to aid in the distance required to be a truly good golfer, but it was his keen eye for the greens that kept others from wagering too great a bet once the tad of a man had a putter in his hand. He once shared his "loot" with a caddie who provided him greater insight into the putting greens of his own country club in Woodland Hills, California.

Fitzgerald went to Hollywood to star in another O'Casey work, The Plough and the Stars, directed by John Ford. He had a successful Hollywood career in such films as The Long Voyage Home, How Green Was My Valley (1941), And Then There Were None (1945), and The Quiet Man (1952). Fitzgerald achieved a feat never before (or since) seen in the history of the Academy Awards: he was nominated for both the Best Actor Oscar and the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for the same performance, as "Father Fitzgibbon" in Going My Way (1944). (Academy Award rules have since been changed to prevent this from reoccurring.) He won the Best Supporting Actor Award, and later broke the head off it while practicing his golf swing.

Fitzgerald has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, for movies at 6220 Hollywood Blvd. and for television at 7001 Hollywood Blvd.

[edit] See also

List of people on stamps of Ireland

Awards
Preceded by Charles Coburn for The More the Merrier	Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor 1944 for Going My Way	Succeeded by James Dunn for A Tree Grows In Brooklyn
Preceded by Paul Lukas for Watch on the Rhine	NYFCC Award for Best Actor 1944 for Going My Way	Succeeded by Ray Milland for The Lost Weekend

[edit] External links

Barry Fitzgerald at the Internet Movie Database

Persondata
NAME	Fitzgerald, Barry
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION	Actor
DATE OF BIRTH	March 10 1888
PLACE OF BIRTH	Dublin, Ireland
DATE OF DEATH	January 14 1961
PLACE OF DEATH